New Mexico spaceport almost complete

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious." - Albert Einstein

Posted 24 September 2012 - 11:15 AM

As the world's first commercial spaceport nears completion the project's future is called in to question.

Herald Sun said:

Currently, the Spaceport can count on two rocket companies that send vertical payloads into space and Virgin Galactic, the Branson space tourism venture that says it has signed up more than 500 wealthy adventurers for $US200,000 ($192,000)-per-person spaceflights.

Both those ideas are a lot older than Robert A. Heinlein. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky suggested something similar to the space elevator in 1895. However the Spaceport is being developed for short, suborbital flights and at the moment the rocket is still the most effect means of achieving this.

"Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-boggingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the street to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space." - The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams 1952 - 2001

That is the cost of a flight, TheMacGuffin was referring to this in the original artical:

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And the eclectic hot springs town of Truth or Consequences has been anxiously awaiting all the economic development the $200 billion project is supposed to bring to this largely rural part of southern New Mexico.

However I suspect that figure is the result of a typo, Spaceport America's own website says this:

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The $209 million project has attracted worldwide attention because of its bold premise, stunning architecture and the fact that it is home to the world’s first commercial passenger spaceline company, Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic.

$200 million would seem a bit more realistic.

"Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-boggingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the street to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space." - The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams 1952 - 2001